(at 23/04/20)
“We remain open for business as we work through the ongoing repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis and the dramatic slowdown of our economy for customers. Whilst supporting our existing customers, we continue to see an ever increasing number of applications for finance as individuals and businesses; who previously may not have selected finance, are now looking more carefully at their own cashflow and liquidity.
We have received a high number of requests for forbearance, particularly from our commercial lines customers. Our approach to these has been to review them on a case by case basis, and where appropriate, we are providing reasonable breathing space for those customers through a variety of measures, most commonly a payment holiday month. This time allows both the customers and Premium Credit the time to assess the position of the individual company and the support available to them. Despite high contact volumes, we have now replied to and processed 96% of the requests and are working to a 2 day SLA for reply to initial requests. Upon receipt of the initial forbearance, commercial customers can then request further forbearance, and again, this will be assessed on a case by case basis.
No doubt, you will also have been receiving requests from your personal lines customers. We are happy to discuss those with you and agree a forbearance strategy that works with your own appetite for credit risk.
Our operations team continue to provide a high quality service to brokers; with over 90% of our key performance indicators operating to SLA. This has been greatly assisted by many of you working with us by moving to eJourney for Personal lines and also moving to EFT rather than cheques. Small steps, like this, have a big impact on our capacity and ability to serve you and your customers. Thank you!
We have a separate process in place for all larger premium cases. These will most likely require greater scrutiny to ensure we can support our customer where possible, quickly. To assist our Underwriting teams, and in turn speed up the processing of all deals and enquiries, please ask your teams to ensure the below COVID 19 questionnaire is completed in advance of the application. This questionnaire provides us with critical information to properly assess the loan request and plays a key role in the turnaround of these deals.
I will keep you updated as we progress during this period. In the meantime please don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries.
We wish you and your families continued good health,”
